Residential and business property owners in Warman could see either an increase or a decrease in their municipal property taxes this year.
According to the City of Warman Finance Department, last year’s revaluation will have a major impact on property owners’ final bill. The actual difference in taxes is entirely dependent on each individual property’s change in assessment from four years earlier.
Warman City Council passed a bylaw at its meeting on Monday, June 7 to set property tax mill rates for 2021.
The bylaw will generate an increase of $167,765 in revenue for the city this year from municipal property taxes, an increase of 1.6% from last year.
At the same time, the bylaw, through the setting of mill rates, is designed to mitigate large shifts in taxes caused by reassessment during the revaluation year in 2021.
The bylaw passed at the June 7 meeting raises the base tax for both residential and commercial properties by $50; bringing the residential base tax to $580 and commercial base tax to $880.
In addition, the bylaw sets the mill rate at 5.72 (a slight drop from the 2020 mill rate of 5.74), and increases the commercial mill rate factor from 0.87 to 0.94. The increase in the commercial mill rate factor is intended to bring it closer to a uniform mill rate for all classes of property in the city.
Warman’s residential mill rate factor is 1.0.
The bottom line is that property taxes could go up or down according to the assessed value of the individual property. There are many factors that affect the property’s assessed value, including its location and improvements made to the property in recent years.
Councillors debated the increase in base taxes during the June 7 meeting.
Councillor Trevor Peterson felt the hike in base tax unfairly penalized residents in homes with a lower assessed value.
Councillor Kevin Tooley countered that all properties, regardless of assessed value, have access to the same basic level of civic services, including fire and police protection, utilities and recreational amenities.
“The base tax reflects the fact that the city’s cost of providing this bundle of services increases year over year,” said Tooley.
Earlier this year, the provincial government set the 2021 education tax mill rates at 1.36 for agriculture, 4.46 for residential, and 6.75 for commercial-industrial properties.
Residents and businesses in Warman have until the end of August to pay this year’s property taxes.
Many property owners, however, have signed up with the city’s TIPPS program, which allows monthly equalized payments to City Hall throughout the year. Those enrolled in the TIPPS program have their payments spread throughout the year and are not subject to the August 1 deadline.